Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a facsimile machine, a printer, or a multifunction peripheral (MFP) having at least two of copying, printing, facsimile transmission, plotting, and scanning capabilities.
Related Art
Image forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers generally include a transfer rotator such as a secondary transfer belt or a secondary transfer roller to press against an image bearer such as an intermediate transfer belt. The transfer rotator contacts the image bearer to form a transfer nip. In addition, the image forming apparatuses include a blade configured to clean a surface of the transfer rotator.
Specifically, in the image forming apparatus, a plurality of developing devices develop respective toner images on a plurality of photoconductors. The toner images on the plurality of photoconductors are primarily transferred and superimposed onto a surface of the intermediate transfer belt one on another to form a multicolor toner image. The multicolor toner image on the intermediate transfer belt is then secondarily transferred onto a recording medium transported to a secondary transfer nip. The recording medium, onto which the multicolor toner image is secondarily transferred, is transported on the secondary transfer belt and separated from the secondary transfer belt by a separation roller, around which the secondary transfer belt is looped. Then, the recording medium is transported toward a fixing device to fix the toner image on the recording medium.
The secondary transfer belt looped around a secondary transfer roller and the intermediate transfer belt looped around a secondary-transfer backup roller are interposed between the secondary transfer roller and the secondary-transfer backup roller to form the secondary transfer nip. The secondary transfer belt is also referred to as a nip-forming belt. A secondary transfer cleaning blade is disposed in contact with the secondary transfer roller via the secondary transfer belt to remove substances, such as toner and paper dust adhering to the secondary transfer belt.
A certain amount of toner in a developing device is compulsorily discharged before toner degradation to maintain the quality of the toner image. Specifically, the developing device develops a compulsory consumption toner image on a surface of the photoconductor at an interval between successive recording media to refresh toner in the developing device.